What do you do about off lead dogs approaching your on lead dog?

[Lovetosleep1]

My German Shepherd is almost one. On the whole she's a great dog but can be reactive to other dogs in that she will growl if they run up to her and bark at them if they persist. She is neutral to other dogs if they don't approach and actively friendly to dogs she knows. She has had loads of training and it's on going.

Most owners are sensible and put their dogs on a lead when they see her on a lead but some idiots don't or can't. What do you do in these situations? Should she be muzzled? I don't want to just do road walks to avoid off lead dogs but would also hate her to hurt another dog.

I tell them to bloody get their dogs under control.

I wish I knew the answer some dog owners are just so bloody ignorant! I have a young puppy with great recall (separation anxiety has its benefits) and she will come straight back when called. If I see another dog she goes straight on the lead but it drives me nuts the amount of the "he's friendly" idiots I come across who let there massive out of control dogs bound over and terrorise my tiny 3kg puppy.

They really are complete twats. Especially when they're miles away screaming their dogs name and it's just completely ignoring them. I just want my dog to have an enjoyable walk in peace without being harassed by other dogs.

I do tell them but I honestly think they're stupid and don't get it.

Oh I feel your pain. I have exactly this problem and a dog (4 year old male) with exactly the same preferences: friendly with known dogs; aloof or disinterested if passing a strange dog; liable to snarl if approached by a strange dog. I find it incredibly stressful and have tried all sorts of things, including hiring a behaviourist, which cost £200 to be told that there isn't a behavioural problem to solve and my dog's manners are fine and he is just responding appropriately to bad behaviour / pestering from the other dogs....

I'm afraid my solution was to move to the country where I don't have to deal with as many annoying dogs and their arsehole owners. It has solved the problem, but I appreciate it's not exactly an easily implemented solution! It's also made me even less inclined to go to busy dog-walking places (country parks etc) which feels like a loss in some ways. But I am so tired of other people who don't train or manage their dogs and don't care how other dogs might react.

In terms of easier solutions. Some options: walk in the opposite direction to the other dog where possible and don't make encouraging eye contact; take a walking pole on walks; put your body between the approaching dog and your dog; shout ahead "not friendly" - sometimes works, often doesn't, and risks stressing your dog ahead which would obviously be counterproductive. Take a bag of treats and throw them to distract the other dog (risks them following you for more but could be useful in certain circumstances). Or follow the advice on a similar thread recently and shout that your dog's got mange or is contagious- I think this one might actually work! But I know most of these options only work when the owner is in close proximity and usually with these situations as you say the owner is half a mile away and either oblivious and shouting pointlessly with their non-existent recall.

It is incredibly frustrating. I'm a dog walker and seem to deal with idiots like this on a daily basis, lol. I generally do a combination of the following:

Shout at the them to bloody get their dog as mine isn't friendly.
Body block (with my dog behind me) to try and get the other dog to lose interest.
Turn and walk off in the other direction (this often makes the owner panic and move a bit quicker).
Chuck treats behind the approaching dog in the hopes that they'll turn around to eat them and I can get away (this can backfire though).
I have had to kick a dog off mine in the past (not hard, but enough to get it to stop) because it leapt on my dog and was biting it on the scruff.
I will pick small dogs up if the other dog is much bigger.

I've had several confrontations with owners who say "Oh, he's friendly" while mine is shaking behind me or whimpering in fear or snarling for the other dog to fuck off. A dog who approaches a clearly terrified dog and won't leave it alone is a bully. It is not friendly.

@Stillcantgetnosleep @lifebeginsaftercoffee thank you that's really good advice from both of you I'll give it a try.

@lifebeginsaftercoffee I completely agree with you, another dog ignoring what a dog is obviously telling them isn't friendly.

My trainer said exactly the same as yours @Stillcantgetnosleep that she has good manners and the other dogs approaching haven't and that she is not being aggressive but reacting to their poor behaviour.

I wish I could move to the countryside, that would be a perfect solution!

Why should you muzzle your dog? I Don't have a dog. I.do.like dogs. It really annoys me when people let their dog off the lead. It is not a right. With rights come responsibilities.

Unfortunately moving to the countryside isn't a solution - I'm very rural and as I said, I deal with this most days unfortunately. In fact, I actually find it's better in busier areas and my dog seems to cope better in towns etc. too.

I guess, as with everything, it depends on the individual dogs.

Not long ago, a pack of five golden retrievers attacked and almost killed two spaniels nearby. I saw said retrievers this morning and the owner still had no control - I rushed my dogs off as fast as possible!

There are loads of loopy dogs around with terrible recall these days. It's awful when they loom into view.

However, it's a fact of life that your dog will encounter other dogs and, if she's still young, could you work on some more training to get her used to unfamiliar dogs being around and get to the root of her anxieties?

It will make walks a lot less stressful for you, especially when your dog will be aware of any anxious feelings you are also subconsciously giving off.

I'm not defending the out of control dogs, just wondering if you can get in front of the problem and feel a bit more secure.

I shout "not friendly! Very aggressive dog. Recall your dog immediately".
Now this isn't true but my dog doesn't really like being approached, is very big and strong but has been trained well (although not perfect, hence why he is kept on a lead at all times).

This often freaks the owner out as they think their dog might get hurt (they don't care about upsetting my dog you see). I'll then usually see them try and fail to recall their dog and go chasing after it to get the lead on. I then tell them that my dog could very easily have killed their dog and this is exactly why they need to keep their dog on a lead. Again, not necessarily true.

I don't care that I'm lying, I'm hoping it'll make them think in future.

We had similar issues, and the “it’s okay, my dog is friendly!” brigade just wouldn’t be told, so I spent a few months muzzle training our dog and it has made walks much less stressful. We took so long muzzle training him that he is genuinely so comfortable wearing it, we aren’t on constant alert for off lead dogs approaching him, and ironically, less owners allow their dogs to approach him now because he’s muzzled.

I think it’s ridiculous that we have got to this point, I’m a firm believer that unless your dog has 100% bomb proof recall they shouldn’t be off lead, but unfortunately that’s just not the reality.

Mind, I do have to worry about children approaching my dog. He has long, shaggy hair so looks almost like a giant toy, kids come running over to him and he really doesn't like children. Fortunately parents can usually catch their kids before they reach us or I can intercept.

I just take a deep breath and try to relax. Nothing else to be done as asking for them to be called away is usually pointless. If you think your dog would actually bite then yes, muzzle. My dog wears a muzzle all the time. It's actually to protect hedgehogs as she's never bitten a person or any dogs but it works quite well to make most dick heads keep their dogs away.

Also - another solution that can work, depending on the dog & type of approach - is that I pet and fuss the other dog before it tries to greet my dog. This helps distract it a bit from my dog and also shows my dog that it's not a threat. Basically if I see a strange dog approaching, I recall my dog and put him on a lead so that i have more control of the greeting. Then I'll sometimes put myself between my dog and the approaching one, squat down a bit more to its level and greet it before it gets to my dog. Works if the approach is more sedate, not if it's a barrelling pointer or viszla.

@Dabralor I've maybe not explained it well but she is neutral to other dogs so just aloof and ignores them. She can pass a dog on the pavement walking towards her and completely ignore it even if there's a only a few inches between them. She doesn't want to interact with other dogs and only reacts when off lead ones run over and get in her face, try to sniff her bum or jump on her. She just doesn't want to interact with strange dogs. I don't think she is the problem or needs to change. I've spent a fortune on training and what feels like all of my spare time training her to get to this point. I'd completely agree if she was nervous and reacting at every dog she sees though.

Please tell me your dog has a muzzle

@Ginandjuice57884 I've no idea if she'd bite but she's definitely giving a very clear warning to back off. A cocker spaniel and a small poodle have both been aggressive towards her in the past and she didn't retaliate.

Yup! But he could still easily knock a child flying.

This week, I've had four separate grown adults think it was acceptable to reach down and try and pet the dogs I was walking

One of them even gave me a dirty look when she leapt backwards and barked at him - she's blind!

I'm not sure there is much that you can do. Tbh some of these friendly dogs need to learn that not all dogs want to say hello.

I have a dog loving dog, she has good recall and I would call her away from a dog like yours, one on a lead or one that you can see is clearly not interested in saying hello. But tbh she has learnt which dogs want to interact with her and which once's don't and she won't approach those that clearly don't now. As a puppy she was on a lead for a long time with training and it would sometimes take all my might to stop her from trying to get to a dog that was not interested. She got growled at a few times ( from a fair distance I will add) and she learnt eventually not to bother with that dog.

I get that you don't want your dog to bite another dog, but a growl and some warning is good for other dogs to see. At the end of the day she's just telling them to bugger off and leave me alone. It's really on the other dogs/ owners for these dogs to learn this lesson.

The thing is @Orangebadger , if your dog is getting close enough to be growled at, the other dog is already stressed, scared and uncomfortable. It's not fair.

It's not the on-lead dogs' job to tell your dog off and they shouldn't be put in that situation.

No like I said she was on a lead as a puppy, so she wasn't that close. But she was within the vicinity of a dog that did not like puppies. The owner put her dog on a lead and mine was already on one. But at the end of the day that is how she has learnt about dog body language, just the same as kids need to learn as young children. The growl is a warning sign, self protection to say keep away. It serves a very useful purpose amongst dogs to let other dogs know to leave them along.

I think it does depend on the dog. I increasingly think I need to approach it a bit more like @Orangebadger says. My dog doesn't actually seem to be anxious or particularly stressed by these encounters - it's me that hates it. It doesn't even happen that often (because of all my defensive measures haha) but when it does he snarls in the unwanted dog's face and charges at them a bit and then they clear off ...in every case so far at least..... Afterwards, my dog is absolutely fine, trots on with his tail up and doesn't look back. So maybe @Orangebadger is right and I should just let them get on with it. (Though I find 'he's only putting the other dog in its place' almost as annoying as 'he's friendly' as an approach to dog training). My worry is that as he is an intact male there is a risk it could escalate quickly if the other male doesn't want to back down, but I suppose that kind of encounter is always a (small) risk and not something that we can entirely remove from our / their lives.

There's a big difference between a dog who just doesn't want to interact and a dog who is genuinely scared/threatened by an approaching dog.

Unfortunately my dog falls into the latter category after he was attacked while on his lead by approaching off-lead dogs. He makes it very clear that he's not interested but he still gets ignored (even when growling and snarling) and I don't want him put in that position.

Every time a dog gets close enough to provoke that reaction, his cortisol goes through the roof and it impacts him for the rest of the walk (at the very least). It's not his job to tell other dogs to back off. Their owners should be keeping them away in the first place.